Short Update on William Weber, Renaissance Man

After my last post, I received a phone call from my Aunt telling me that she liked the post but had a little info that would make it more accurate!  I called her back and discovered that while she doesn't "do" computers, my cousin had printed it out and had taken it over for her to read.  She said she was really pleased with what my blog said, but thought I would want to edit it a bit. 

She mentioned that in spite of his Conscientious Objector status, at some point he had joined the Coast Guard.  She discovered this because she said she found his discharge papers.  Apparently the only job he talked about at that time was a trip across the Atlantic where they were shipping wild horses from the American West to Italy to replenish the horses that had died either in the war or had been decimated by being eaten when times were hard. Because Bill had grown up on a farm and was good with horses he was chosen for this trip. He had told his wife that the crossing was pretty rough going. 

The error in the blog was that Uncle Bill did not help with releasing Jews from the concentration camps but instead was over there working as a part of the American Friend's Service Committee that was run by the Quakers.  He spent two years there. He started out working in Paris before they could get into Germany, and then after Germany was divided up, went to work in the French sector.  He spent a lot of time driving truck and carrying milk and flour and sometimes vegetables through the Rhine River area.  He would dole out milk in buckets.  He drove trucks most of the time, a lot of  it through hazardous winter weather.  The trucks had worn and bad tires and he had a couple of close calls.

When they had gone from France to Germany initially the French officials were telling the Germans to move out of their homes as they were needed by the American Friends Service Volunteers.  Uncle Bill and the others objected and worked to find homes with extra rooms where they could stay without making them leave.  He and a friend of his ended up boarding in the home of a widow who has lost her husband in the battle of Stalingrad.  The house in Koblenz had been largely destroyed by bombings, but she had two rooms.  She and her daughter lived in one room and Bill and his friend lived in the other.  The volunteers also, when not moving supplies around, also helped rebuild homes for the people in the area.  In addition, the Volunteers would get "care packages" from the US that included cigarettes.  As Bill did not smoke, he gave the cigarettes to the widow who then traded them for house repair work.  Bill also started a youth service group in the area which included the widows daughter and, I think my aunt said, a young man who told Bill he was the "first American he had ever seen" and who later (I think she said) went on to become the mayor of Koblenz. 

After his years of service, Bill returned to Wisconsin and later married his sweetheart who became my Aunt and mother of my three cousins. 

Bill stayed in touch with the widow and her daughter for years and later the daughter and her husband owned a hotel in Koblenz and her husband was the president of the hotel association. In 1987 Bill and his wife traveled to Europe and visited them and stayed in their hotel. Seventeen of the original Volunteer members traveled at the same time and were reunited after all those years.  My aunt received a scarf and Uncle Bill received a book about the history of Koblenz and they discovered that the book was dedicated to Uncle Bill. They were given a tour of the city and taken on a cruise down the Rhine River.  They also spent two weeks in Munich.  A link to info on Koblenz that I came across provides a few photos of the area.  My aunt also mentioned that they spent a week with "Bill's former girlfriend" and her husband.  Now THAT simple statement sounds like the beginning of a longer story which would involve all my cousins!! -- but she didn't elaborate.

In 2002 they took a trip to Ireland to visit another woman, Mary Clare, who had been a Volunteer.  They were able to spend two weeks in Dublin visiting with her and her family.  Obviously their volunteer work together forged some strong bonds.  It was very fun to get the phone call from my aunt and to expand the stories about Uncle Bill. 

Now is someone can give me information (no luck yet just using search engines) on how horses were rounded up out West and ended up on ship transports to Europe, and how often this happened, that would be very interesting!

Uncle William Philip Weber, Renaissance Man and Inspiration

November 1st marks the sixth anniversary of the passing of my dear Uncle Bill.  He was an amazing man.  He was the loving and diligent caretaker of his mother, our Grandmother Susan for many years and without him she either would not have been able to stay in her home, or would have declined much earlier if left on her own.  As she lived to be 93 and a half years of age, she obviously did not have a shortened life!  Uncle Bill, as a young man during WWII, was a Conscientious Objector and in place of Army service was first a Smoke Jumper (firefighter) and later helped with the liberation of the Jews who had lived long enough to make it to the end of the War and survived the  concentration camps. He was a farmer,  professional photographer, and was in later years involved in local politics and was a visionary.  He was a man ahead of his time!  I came across this article from the La Crosse Tribune from January 21, 1979 and found it to be very interesting.  I have been to their home a number of times over the years and have always found it to be comfortable but I can't remember if any of my trips were in the winter!

 

I think it is very interesting that both my Uncle and my father built their "dream homes" aligned to the North Star.  Uncle Bill was looking for maximum sun exposure.  My dad, after years of being a Navigator on a variety of Air Force planes simply wanted his home aligned with the stars that he loved and knew many by name.  My parents also, while not having a solar heating system, had a solar water heating system and the solar panels heated the water in a hot water tank that dumped pre-heated water into two other electric water heaters (that rarely had to work very hard as the water came in very hot)

Uncle Bill would love all the progress that has been made since this article was written almost 36 years ago. 

The large windows, looking out on a somewhat wooded territorial view, creates a light, airy and still cozy environment. 

Uncle Bill sent the article above to my parents, who lived in Portland, Oregon, along with the following letter.  

Tue. 23 Jan 79

Bob and Bernadine,

Hi ~

            Just a short note. The furnace here at the studio has been out for the past week.  We have been using a couple of electric heaters in the darkroom and bathroom and have been able to carry on – expect a new furnace sometime this week.

            It’s been a cold, snowy January.  We have over 2 feet of snow on the ground.  Haven’t had any thawing since Christmas.  Did have 13 nice cold sunny days first part of Jan.  Old solar collector really worked good at that time (am enclosing a copy of an article that appeared in La Crosse Tribune.  But on the whole this winter we haven’t had much sunshine. Oh well, you win some and lose some.

            As you know we didn’t get any wood cut or bought for Mother.  So she has had to depend on the electric heaters for a large share of her heating this winter.  Well her last month heat bill came to $160 – what with her $140 SS check, it won’t even cover it.  Last winter we had the wood Kim and Brent cut so were able to get by. 

            So I was wondering if maybe all of us kids could throw in a few dollars and help cover this and the next bill.  I’ve been furnishing her with 90% of her food this winter and she was able to save enough to pay her taxes last year. However they are about $75 more this year - $815 which is half of what she takes in during the year.  She is planning on selling a few trees along the Eckelberg line as they are cutting lumber on Eckelbergs.  So next year shouldn’t be quite so rough.  She’s worried about the lite bill but I thought maybe if we each put in $25-$35 she could handle the rest.  What do you think?  Or should we borrow it from the bank and pay them back after the timber is sold?

            We are talking now of about $200 for the next 2 months.  She expects to get bail enough on her last years homestead tax credit to pay some on her taxes for this year.  She usually pays half in Jan and the rest in July.

            However, if the Dec heat bill was $160 the Jan bill will be $200 or more as it was a very cold Jan.  So if she can handle $200 out of her $280 for the next 2 mo and plus another $200-$300 tax refund that would leave a bal of 2 or 3 hundred dollars.  We might be able to get the heating bill extended on a budget plan so she could pay it off during the summer.  We will try, but for now I thought a nice birthday gift would be whatever we could afford toward the present bill.  If you got any ideas on this let me know.

            Mother is doing real well this winter. Taking care of herself in many ways.  I bake her bread a couple times a week and have been furnishing potatoes and carrots but we are about out of them (we had a poor garden last year).

            Everyone here is fine – wish you could all stop by and have dinner with us at our warm solar heated house (one sunny day)

            Love to all from all of us ~

                        Bill

[Grandma lived another 8 years after this was written.]



My dear Uncle Bill and with his wonderful wife and sweetheart twenty years after the letter. 

And here are Bill's children around 1962 (at the latest) with his mom, their grandma, for whom he cared so well. Cousins, not only were you so much younger then, but so was Grandma!  She looks relatively young in that photo!

William Philip Weber - 1919 to 2008 -- you are one in a million and you are not forgotten by any of us, no matter how many years go by!

Bill Weber was a loving son, husband and father, he was conscientious and loyal, honest and trustworthy.  And in spite of his self-proclaimed agnostic leanings over the years, I find it only fitting and symbolic that he passed away painlessly and peacefully on All Saint's Day.

Farewell to Mother Susan Sherwood Weber by William Philip Weber

The photo above shows the Herman and Susan Sherwood Weber family probably around 1938 or so.  The Sherwood family runs to prematurely gray hair and Susan was no exception.  Susan's first born son was William Philip Weber and he was born on May 31, 1919 while is uncle George Sherwood was on his way home from World War I.  William,  Uncle Bill and I knew him, was a most compassionate and caring son to his mother Susan in her declining years.  These are his thoughts about her last moments in his own words.  

The Last of the Generation

Two weeks ago today my dear Uncle Bill passed on. He is by far the main reason I have been transcribing hundreds of old family letters and the fact that he is no longer here to read them is a great loss to me. He was the last of the four siblings born to Herman August Ludwig Weber and Susan Rosina Sherwood. He was the first to arrive in their family and the last to leave. We will miss him greatly. He was a generous, warm hearted man. In honor of him, I thought it would be fitting to hear his Uncle's thoughts from the day he first learned of William Philip's coming advent. Uncle Bill -- we will never forget you. (In this photo, Bill stands on the right of his siblings and his grandfather, William Sherwood a few years later. The others, Left to right, are Mary, Robert (my dad) and Carl.) His uncle, George, here writes from Luxembourg after WWI armistice.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Echternach, Luxembourg
February 22, 1919

Dear Ones ALL
Since reading today’s mail, I’ll never forgive Bill Hohenzollern if I don’t get back by the middle of June. By the way, Mother, this cancels the necessity for answering my “Confidential Note.” Don’t you all think I’m a pretty keen kid. Now Sister, do not blame Mother for in case you didn’t see what she wrote it was only a remark wondering if she could get away to Aunt Nellie’s Birthday Party?!?! Of course I was crazy for more information, for while I had hardly even thot of the possibility before reading that, the first thought that came to me was “I wonder.” But having not even a ghost of a reason to think I was right I searched the letters all carefully and found not even a hint. Then I thot I was probably crazy but occasionally a little bird seemed to whisper, “you're right, you're right,” and then when I read Susan’s letters of the last of Jan suggesting a secret, of course I knew my hunch was right, tho I rushed frantically on to her Birthday letter to get verification in her own dear words. Now I know I’ve got to get home to celebrate the Birthday Parties – How’s that? Oh, folks – you don’t know how proud and glad I am. I feel just like I did a little over a year ago when sister let me in on advance dope of March 12, 1918. Herman, I hope you won’t be jealous or vain either one if I say that the only thing which can make me happier than when I got you for a brother-in-law, will be the safe arrival of a little niece or nephew.

Sister, I’m sure glad to be let in on this too, and as luck would have it the news came just when we were preparing for the usual kind of an Army Holiday plus homesickness & Spring fever. Now in spite of the preparation necessary for the coming inspection, and the work to do, and the rain etc., etc., I’m feeling as cozy and happy as its possible to feel “On this side of the Pond,” when you want to be “On the Other side of the Pond.” Compree?

I think this letter will mean quite a bit to you, but if it is censored very close they will have me up on the medical carpet examining me for Insanity. Oh! Well, probably that is the only grounds I could get a discharge on at present!

Got a letter from Mayme Finnican today too. As I just sent her a rather bum letter telling her I wished she would write, you had better tell her I got it next time you see her, but that I’m just as anxious to get an answer to this last one I sent. I also received Aunt Nellie’s letter, which I’ll try to answer soon.

All I can really say about when we will get home is that things look as bright now as they ever did for us to hit there by the 4th of July. And believe me, you bet if I’m in the US I sure will make an effort to be Home. The longer I wait the more things to celebrate seems to pop up. I guess you’ll have to fat up three or four “calves.”

So my letters prove “intensely interesting.” That is consoling but I’m afraid the General Public will not or rather would not appreciate it. Ha! Ha! Bet if I really did write something good you would all die of delight. By the way, what is the latest news from Ed Schultz. And how is his mother. You know there is a little hitch between the two arms of service, especially the Great Lakes Training Boys and the Army fellows over here. The best name I’ve heard applied to them yet came out this week remarking on them as “Ladies Home Companions.” Of course we realize that many of them really wanted to see some service, but so many of them squeezed into that as a bomb proof job to escape the draft and then were coddled in Chicago during the war that it gets under our skin a little to see the Hero’s praised for the “Terrible Battle of Great Lakes” as we call it. And for every enlisted man you see in an advertisement, or posing by some fair damsel on a Magazine Cover you see forty sailors. There is a little element of truth and irony in it at that for as far as most of the Great Lakes Gobs go, that is about all they did. However, I’d like to know what Ed’s address now is and I’ll try to drop him a line as he doubtless has worked hard. I dropped his mother a card from Aix-les-Baines. Hope she received it OK.

A couple of Dutchmen just came in with a pass to Germany to be vic’d and I had to trail off down to the town Majors with them, but in spite of the rain I was even whistling when I came back all because your letters had made me so happy. If this one to you could only spread as much joy I would sure be glad I wrote it, but I’m having a lot of fun writing it anyway. (Now there’s more reason than ever to be very careful of yourselves so I’ll leave it up to the Webers to keep good tab on the Sherwoods and vice versa.)

(Feb 23rd, 1919)
Just got that far when I had to stop as per usual. But here we go again on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning, the sun fairly blazing down on me thru the open window of the office. So I’ll just send my love along with him as the moon hasn’t showed up lately. Say, you nearly ruined me. I went to bed last nite at about eleven P.M. and then I started to think about your letters and going home, etc. and before I knew it I was going over and over the trip from Echternach clear back home to that cool white bed. Bet I made the whole trip at least 20 times, never twice the same. And you have gone and busted one of my fondest hopes. With my little sister threatening maternity, and a mother with heart trouble, how do you suppose I’m going to dare try to surprise you. No, that is another busted bubble. But guess there wouldn’t be much chance anyway as Chicago will probably advertise our return enough. But of course don’t expect me until you hear from me even then as it takes about two weeks to muster out after we hit camp. Gee I’m raving as tho I was there already and there is no chance that I can see to get to Chicago before June 15th or so.

Love to you all again & again

Corp. Geo Sherwood
108th US Engineers
American Exp. Forces

(Censored by) C. L. Thompson
Capt. 108th Engrs
Amer. Ex F